OSCE completes its mandate in Croatia and closes office

ZAGREB, 17 January 2012 – Today the OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier and Croatian President Ivo Josipović held an official ceremony to mark the closure of the OSCE’s office in Croatia. The closure follows a decision last month by the 56 OSCE participating States that declared the mandate of the office successfully completed.

Thanking the OSCE for supporting the country’s development Josipović said: “During the 15 years of OSCE presence in Croatia it has contributed to resolving conflicts in this area... as well as the overall democratic development of the country. The OSCE field presence in Croatia has also been an important factor in enabling Croatia to sucessfuly implement its internatonal commitments.”

"Croatia is also committed to further support of the NGO sector and we welcome the follow-up of the co-operation with the OSCE in particular with civil society with the view of realizing the project of capacity building of local NGOs for monitoring of war crimes trials in Croatia," said Josipović.

“As we mark the closure of the OSCE office, our success is your success,” said Zannier, highlighting the focus of the OSCE during its 15 years in Croatia of “promoting the rights of national minorities, developing a democratic police service, and ensuring freedom of the media.” He added that important work was done in the difficult and sensitive issues of prosecution of war crimes, refugee return and property rights.

“These reforms have also contributed towards the achievement of Croatia’s strategic goal of European integration. Other countries in the region look to you as an example,” he said.

“Croatia's co-operation with the OSCE will continue, through our executive structures. For instance we are co-operating with civil society, as we do throughout the OSCE region, supporting Croatian NGOs that are monitoring war crimes trials,” concluded Zannier.

The OSCE opened its first field presence in the country, the Mission to Croatia, in April 1996, which at its peak had almost 800 staff members and which was closed at the end of 2007 after successfully completing most of its mandate. The remaining tasks were taken on by the OSCE Office in Zagreb which officially began work on 1 January 2008 with just over 20 staff members.